Roll-up shutter



April 2o, 1931. 4. F@ Gom ROLL-UP SHUTTER INVENTOR JOAQUIN F. GoNI B7 ll, V

A TORNEY Filed Feb. l, 1954 Patented Apr. 20, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application February 1, 1934, Serial No. 709,386 In Spain February 14, 1933 2 Claims.

The present invention relates to roll-up shut-4 ters, blinds and the like and the object of the invention is to provide -a greatly improved product and method of manufacture, the shutters produced having advantageous features which are important in the buildingindustry.

Heretofore, roll-up shutters have been made of iron and Wood, not only for purposes of safety, but more particularly in order to obtain protection against cold or heat and noise. Experience has shown that such materials only achieve these latter ends to a very small degree on account of the absorbent and capillary property of the one and the conducting property of the other.

The excellent insulating properties of cork are not unknown, but these properties have not heretofore been utilized in roll-up shutters which are required to aiord the greatest possible degree of protection against cold and heat.

The process of manufacture according to this invention tends precisely to meet this requirement and is characterized by the use of cork, either in its natural form, or in the form of a composition or agglomerate. In its natural form, the cork is boiled and cleaned from its outer coating in order to obtain large sheets, from which strips or laths are taken of the desired section and strengthened by iron wires, which prevent their horizontal bending. In the alternative, cork particles are agglomerated and the strips or laths are formed from the mass in the dimensions and sections required, according to the type of roll-up shutter which it is desired to produce.

The invention will be clearly understood from the detailed description hereinafter given and by the aid of the annexed drawing in which are shown, merely by way of example, Some of the many forms of shutter which may be obtained by this process,

Figures 1, 2 and 3 illustrate in cross section fragments of roll-up shutters and show the arrangement and appearance of the laths or slats, whether movable or fixed, and whether adapted for rolling up inwards or outwards.

Figure 4 is a horizontal section showing the end of a lath provided with a plate in order to prevent it from escaping out of a guide.

Figure 5 is a fragment of lath in horizontal section and illustrates a construction which may be adopted when the width of the shutter is great, each lath according to this construction being made in two or more sections, joined together vertically by plates such as are used in wooden shutters.

Figure 6 is -a View of the first lath of a shutter having a plate or bar in order to facilitate the lowering of same; and i Figures '7, 8 and 9 are cross sections illustrating examples of construction of composite laths or slats designed to aord safety.

In order to obtain an agglomerate intended for making laths a, Figures 1-3, of a roll-up shutter, a cork mass is produced by any suitable process. Thereupon the mass is pressed, with a certain pressure, and in view of the resinous components of the cork itself, alone or mixed with other products of different qualities, it is subjected to a certain temperature and a desired agglomerate suitably agglutinated is obtained.

In this or some other form, as in the natural form after treatment, flat boards are obtained, which are cut or rolled by machinery in order to obtain the desired sections. It is also possible to control the cross sectional shape desired by moulding the boards with suitably separated sections in order that laths of the form and dimensions desired may be cut oi, lacking only the polishing and smoothing.

For making use of natural cork, it sufces for it to be cleaned and boiled, the outer part being polished and suitably pressed, by this means obtaining surfaces of large dimensions, from which laths or strips suitable for roll-up shutters can be taken.

In Figures l and 2, the l-aths or slats are shown spaced from one another and they are slotted for the passage of the flexible connecting means to which they are attached. In Figure 3, the laths or slats are formed so that they have a rounded bearing one against the other along their contiguous top and bottom edges.

To the rst or lowest strip or lath of a roll shutter, which will be wider than the others, there is attached an iron plate or b-ar b (Figure 6) such plate or bar being advantageously embedded in the thickness of the lath. This plate or bar b facilitates the descent of the shutter through increase in weight, in the event of the weight of the shutter being otherwise sufficient.

Since with a small eifort bending may be caused in the cork agglomerate in a horizontal direction, however compressed it may be, channel-shaped guides c Figure 4 are arranged with in-bent projecting edges or flanges of about 3 mm. width as shown and, in order to form a stop on each lath, an iron plate d is xed to the ends thereof which plate projects by about 21/2 mm. from the thickness of the lath thereby preventing the shutter from coming out of its guide.

In cases where the strips or laths are longer than usual, the cork strips may be protected or strengthened by strips of wood, or of composition, which are attached to the cork along its whole length to form one single piece, or a strip of iron or metal is fixed to the cork, in which oase, the plates d (Figure 4) may be omitted as the metal strip may be formed to provide the desired stop projection. In this way the cork will not be subject to any strain and will only carry out its insulating function. The attachment of such strips be an absence of capillarity with combustibility almost nil and an ease of handling Will be at- 10 tained owing to its lightness, Without breakage of the slats or laths. Thus, it is evident that success is achieved by the production of a new article of maunfacture or by its combination with various accessories, the said article possessing un- 15 doubted advantages over what is already known.

The various constructions will be understood, without any further explanation, by any one skilled in the building trade.

There is also an advantage in the fact that 20 through the small weight of the roll-up shutters,

they can be rolled up with greater facility than Wooden ones in the lower part of the apertures, where the rail exists.

Of course diierent qualities of material can be made up according to the grade of cork, the greater or less fine grinding of same, various degrees of boiling or heat treatment and pressure and with regard to the other supplementary elements for the manipulation of the roll-up shutters, they can be similar to those used at present for Wooden shutters, with the additional advantage of permitting much greater simplicity, owing to the great difference in the Weight.

I claim:-

1. A shutter slat composed of a body of cork and a reinforcing element therefor in intertted relation therewith, the cork presenting an exposed surface at the outer side of the slat.

2. A shutter slat composed of cork and a reinforcing element therefor, the cork presenting an exposed surface at the outer side of the slat.

JOAQUN FLAMARIQUE GOI. 

